Chapter 13
Since Qi Heng entered the mining area, he has been leaving early and returning late. Yan Ning stayed at home to take care of the insect eggs, so they didn't communicate much.
By the time he noticed that something was wrong with Yan Ning, it was already too late.
If it were any other Zerg, Qi Heng would definitely not meddle in other people's business, but when it came to Yan Ning, he couldn't just pretend not to see it.
Remembering that he had noticed Yan Ning's unsteady steps and weak complexion just now, he decided to tell Yun Jiu that he would not go to the mine today.
At the entrance of District 49.
After hearing what he said, Yun Jiu asked with some concern, "Did something happen?"
It was a bit strange to suddenly suggest not going to the mining area, but Qi Heng didn't look like he had anything to do.
Qi Heng hadn't intended to say it, but then he thought that Yun Jiu might know the reason why Yan Ning was weak, so he told Yun Jiu what he had discovered in the morning.
"Yan Ning is not in good condition..."
After hearing his description, Yun Jiu's expression suddenly turned ugly. He angrily said, "Yan Ning is really... How could she not care about her own health?"
"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Qi Heng realized that the matter was not simple. Thinking about it carefully, considering the physical fitness of female insects, it would be a serious matter for them to become ill.
No one knows the Zerg's physique better than him. Yan Ning's problem is probably not just poor condition.
"I know." Yun Jiu's face turned cold.
"He must have gone for a blood transfusion."
Qi Heng was a little surprised when he heard the word "blood transfusion". Did he hear it wrong or did Yun Jiu say it wrong?
Yun Jiu didn't notice the confusion in his eyes and quickly explained, "He's really being too arrogant. I told him he could come to me if he needed help, but he actually went to get a blood transfusion..."
"No, I have to go check it out."
Upon hearing this, Qi Heng patted Yun Jiu's shoulder and said, "You still have to go mining. Leave Yan Ning to me."
He had learned quite a bit about Yun Jiu during these few days of getting along.
Yun Jiu's situation is not much better than Yan Ning's. He has several mouths to feed at home, and if he misses a day at the mine, he will lose income.
God knows how horrified Qi Heng was when he found out that Yun Jiu had several insect cubs at home. After all, Yun Jiu looked to be in her twenties, and she didn't look like she was of marriageable age in the past few years.
Yun Jiu hesitated, feeling a little uneasy: "Can you do this?"
"Um."
"Then I'll leave Yan Ning to you."
Regardless of whether he asked for a favor or not, Qi Heng thought that Yan Ning's behavior might be related to him. Blood transfusion... using blood in exchange for food and necessary items. He thought of the extra food and clothes he had accumulated in the past few days.
He gave all the points he earned from mining to Yan Ning, but the total points were only 15. He knew that with Yan Ning's personality, she would not take the initiative to tell him even if it was not enough.
After Qi Heng sent Yun Jiu away, he turned and walked towards Yan Ning's house.
…
Yan Ning was a little confused when she heard the footsteps. She turned around and saw that it was Qi Heng who had just left.
"Brother Qi, didn't you go to the mining area with Brother Yun Jiu? Why are you back?"
"Did you forget something?"
"No." Qi Heng walked forward and motioned Yan Ning to stand up, saying, "I came back for you."
Yan Ning looked at him blankly.
"What's the blood transfusion?" he asked directly.
"Brother Qi, why are you asking this?" A trace of panic flashed in Yan Ning's eyes, trying to cover up the truth.
"I learned everything from Yun Jiu." Qi Heng felt a little powerless. He didn't know why he felt like he was raising a carefree young cub.
This is really weird. Could it be that the mentality will be affected by the dominance because of the fusion?
His eyes fell on Yan Ning's arm. Regardless of Yan Ning's struggle, he grabbed her arm and pushed her sleeve up to her elbow.
In this way, you can clearly see the needle hole left on the inside of Yan Ning's arm. The skin there is bluish-purple, which looks very scary against her fair skin.
Yan Ning's face turned pale when she saw that what she had concealed was discovered.
Qi Heng didn't know much about the situation in the slums, and it was the first time he heard the term blood transfusion, but this didn't stop him from using his brain to analyze the answer to the problem.
"It's because of me." He looked down at Yan Ning and said in a statement tone: "You exchanged your blood for food and clothes, right?"
Having guessed everything, Yan Ning lowered her head and said, "Yes."
"Sorry." Qi Heng sighed. After all, it was he who dragged Yan Ning down.
"Don't do that again. Our deal is that you take me in. There are no other strings attached."
“There’s no need to do anything extra.”
If he had known this a few days earlier, he would never have allowed Yan Ning to sell blood - this is what Qi Heng analyzed from what Yun Jiu said.
When Yun Jiu talked about the blood transfusion, his tone was very normal, as if he was asking about the good weather today. The anger in his words was not directed at the "blood transfusion" itself, but at Yan Ning for not taking care of herself and going for a blood transfusion.
This revealed a piece of information that made Qi Heng somewhat concerned.
That is, the forces behind the slums are very interested in the blood of female insects. They are so interested that they spend a long time collecting the blood of female insects and make them accustomed to selling blood in exchange for the materials they need.
Qi Heng was thinking when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Yan Ning's raised voice.
"It's not unnecessary, I just want to help you."
"Compared to the help you gave me, Brother Qi, there is very little I can do." Yan Ning looked at him suddenly, and interrupted him as if afraid that it would be too late.
Yan Ning picked up Chongdan and said excitedly, "I can feel that the cub is getting better little by little."
After soaking for a few days, the off-white insect eggs turned into a cleaner white, and the dark blue lines on them became clear and shiny. Anyone could see that the insect eggs were in very good condition.
Who would have thought that a few days ago this insect egg was still dying and had one foot halfway into the gates of hell.
Qi Heng wasn't good at dealing with other people's kindness, especially someone as straightforward and unconcealed as Yan Ning. He coughed lightly and said, "Anyway, don't do this again. I'll get what I need myself."
Yan Ning felt inexplicably lost for some reason and responded softly with "oh".
Qi Heng reached out and rubbed Yan Ning's head, saying, "Let me see the insect eggs."
Taking the insect egg from Yan Ning's hand, he used his mental power to carefully sense the condition of the insect cub inside the egg. The next moment, a crisp cracking sound suddenly rang in his ears.
"...Is he about to come out?" Qi Heng, who was holding the insect egg, subconsciously held his breath and watched a crack appear on the insect egg in his hand. The crack was showing a tendency to continue to grow.
"Okay, it seems so." Yan Ning said nervously while staring at the insect eggs.
Qi Heng's expression froze, and he felt that the insect eggs in his hand were extremely hot.
He strode past Yan Ning and placed the insect eggs into the grass nest surrounded by straw and covered with a piece of clothing before they completely cracked.
"Is the cub about to come out?" Yan Ning followed him closely, his eyes never leaving the insect eggs.
As soon as Qi Heng put down the insect egg, the cracks on the egg shattered as if it could not bear it, revealing the tiny insect cubs soaked in transparent egg liquid.
The insect cub has dark blue markings on its body, which are the markings that all female insects have.
Then the insect cub's eyelashes trembled, and the moment it opened its eyes, it revealed green pupils exactly the same as Yan Ning's. Its eyes looked at them, big and bright, with a clear and pure light.
"The baby is so cute." The feeling of blood connection made Yan Ning unable to help but stretch out her hand to pick up the insect baby.
When Zerg cubs are born, they all look like Zerg mimics, which means that some Zerg characteristics will appear on their bodies.
They will maintain this Zerg mimicry for a long time before they master the full human form.
“It’s very cute.”
The insect cub in front of him was the same as the one Qi Heng had seen with his mental power before. It had a human-like appearance but a pair of slender antennae on its forehead, and narrow dragonfly-like wings on its back hanging down at its sides.
He stopped Yan Ning's action: "Wait a moment before hugging."
Although Yan Ning didn't know why he asked her to stop, she still stopped obediently and carefully held the insect cub's hand in hers.
The insect cubs had no intention of dodging Qi Heng's approaching hand. Newborn cubs were ignorant of the world, but they instinctively knew who to get close to and who to rely on.
Qi Heng picked up the pair of wings from the transparent egg liquid with extremely careful and gentle movements. The wings stood up little by little under his hands, and the transparent and soft wings were easily separated into two pairs by him.
The Tianjia Zerg has many branches, a large part of which are winged Zergs. These Zergs need to separate and shape their wings when they are born so that the wings will not be damaged after they are completely dry.
Qi Heng found that although it was his first time doing this, his movements were very skillful, as if he had done it thousands of times before.
The Zerg baby is not as chubby as other newborn babies. It is a little thin overall, but it cannot resist the excellent genes of the Zerg.
Look at those big watery eyes and that fair and tender skin. Her lovely appearance will definitely capture the hearts of all adult Zergs at the first moment.
Even Qi Heng is no exception.
He had raised many insect babies in the game, but this was the first time he had raised one in real life. It was as adorable as he had imagined.
"Wait until the insect wings are fully formed before you hold him." Qi Heng reached out and gently pinched the insect cub's cheek, gently advising: "He can't put away his insect wings now, so be extra careful when holding him."
"Newly born insects have very fragile wings and are easily injured."
In this environment of lack of medical care and medicine, insect cubs are easily threatened with death once they become sick or injured.
The female insect's self-healing ability does not play a big role at this stage. It will be much better when it grows up and undergoes the initial evolution. Not only can its physical fitness be enhanced, but it can also stimulate the awakening of its innate abilities.
"I understand. I will take good care of the cub." Yan Ning responded hurriedly and carefully covered the cub with clothes.
The insect cub tilted its head and rubbed Qi Heng's fingers with its cheek without taking them away. The other hand, which was in Yan Ning's palm, instinctively grabbed its female father's fingers.
"Brother Qi, Zizi likes you very much." Yan Ning smiled with curved eyebrows as he looked at the affectionate look of Chongzi towards him.
Qi Heng calmly touched the insect cub's face with his fingertips, not surprised by this, and said:
"When the cubs hatch, they will get close to the first Zerg they see, but the ones they like and want to get close to the most are their female and male fathers."
Speaking of this, Qi Heng couldn't help but recall that he had misunderstood the gender of the Zerg.
It was only later that he realized that the gender of the Zerg had actually been clearly told to him in the name, but he had closed his eyes and ears and ignored it so he didn't notice the problem.
The author has something to say:
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In this chapter, Qi Heng, who was caught off guard by the bug cub, appeared calm on the surface, but in his heart: he is cute and wants to be rubbed.
(To be honest, I also want to →_→)
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